closing loopholes. that is a reputation of whatjohnboehnersuggestedin the days since the president has been re-elected. >> that's totally right. a key point, the simpson-bowles tax idea is kind of a magic pony, right. everyone agrees in the ab instruct, we can bring down the rates, close loopholes and deductions and raise revenue. if that's such a wonderful idea how come it's only come up now. how come no one has done it. the reason is because it's really, really hard politically. once you get into the specifics. if you're trying to tie all the revenue to this abstract tax reform idea you're going to get into a position where the revenue is about never going to happen because once you get into reality it doesn't materialize. >> you have to do both, john. you have to do -- you have to raise the the rates and close loopholes to get the amount -- >> just raise the rates. >> you can't raise the rates high enough to produce $1.6 trillion. >> you can get $900 billion from expiring the bush tax cuts. >> and where do you get the other $700 billion from from. >> do a little reform and cut the r

boehner, whohave already openly said, no increases in tax rates? >> well, you have to splinter off some republicans, in the senate it will be easier because you just have to get to 60. you might pass the december 31st deadline where you have a few more democrats in the senate. but the problem is always going to be the house. i think there may be a bargain in the -- in the side of coming to republicans and saying, here are cuts. but the price of those cuts will be that 2%. republicans will face a very tough choice in just a very short time. are they the ones that are going to be responsible for giving 98% of americans tax hikes? do the republicans want to be known as the party that raised your taxes for everybody but 2%? >> right. and i think, martin -- >> so, the 2% solution may be a noose around the republicans' neck. >> i think the republicans have little leverage. not just for that reason but a couple of other reasons. if you consider the fact that taxes are at 15% of gdp, spending is at 24%, even the paul ryan budget proposes we only reduce spending to 20% of gdp. that means five pe

the president sat between house speakerjohnboehnerandsenate majority leader harry reid calling for cooperation and compromise. >> we've got to make sure that taxes don't go up on middle-class families, that our economy remains strong, that we're creating jobs, and that's an agenda that democrats and republicans and independents, people all across the country, share. so, our challenge is to make sure that, you know, we are able to cooperate together, work together. >> joining me now for more, congressional reporter for "the washington post" ed o'keefe and national journal correspondent nancy cook. good morning both of you. last time we saw those three together, sort of a kumbayah moment when you have reid and boehner and mcconnell together. did you get a sense, ed, putting revenue on the table meant republicans were open to tax hikes for those makes $250,000 or more? >> no, they're not. they still say they don't want to see that increase. by talking about revenues the idea is you close loopholes, find a way to perhaps limit deductions and create revenue that way. but you know, b

. they weren't fighting for the top jobs. that's going to stayjohnboehner. they'reactually fighting for the number four job in the house. the contest was tom price against one of the precious few republican women in the house, cathy mcmorris rodgers. and there were some interesting politics at work here. miss mcmorris rodgers had the support of speaker john boehner, but tom price had the support of this guy, the republican party's vice presidential nominee, paul ryan. in the end, it was cathy mcmorris rodgers who won. paul ryan's guy lost. and so even as they lose the presidency, thanks to a devastating gender gap in the polls, and at the same time they send even fewer republican women to congress than were there before, republicans did today pick for this small, low-profile national republican number four leadership role an actual woman. and that's the best they've ever done. that's the highest ranking gop woman there has ever been in the house. back over on the senate side, republicans are faced with a dilemma set up for them by john mccain, as i was just discussing with bill burt

of that party up there. >>> next,johnboehnerwasre-elected yesterday for a second term as speaker of the house but georgia congressman louis go mert, a charter member of the birther crowd had a different candidate in mind. who do you think he nominated? newt gingrich for speaker right now. you don't technically actually have to be a house member to be speaker of the house, but it's been the rule historically. by the way, boehner's word to go mert after the word, louie, i love you, too. after the election, we heard certain ceos were threatening to fire employees if president obama wob the election. some are going through with it. bobt murray, ceo of the coal company laid off 156 employees the day after the election. john schneider ceo the papa john's pizza says he will be cutting employee hours to avoid costs associated with obama care. finally, john met, ceo of several denny's franchises says he will add a 5% surcharge to customers' bills to offset the cost of obama care. you don't want to pay extra, he said tip the server less to offset the cost. what a sweetheart. >>> up next, n

party should take president obama up on his offer. you havespeakerboehnersaying,let's get compromise. this is the time to bring that debt down. we seriously have to do it. i don't think anyone disputes that, but it has to be a mix of spending cuts and the revenue. and the one figure that i'd like to add here is how much revenue we get by just going back to the clinton levels at $250,000 and above. that's $700 billion in tenures. that's what draws people to that number when you add that in and then close some loopholes and subsidies and do the budget cuts, we have already done a trillion. you can get to the $4 trillion that most economists say would at least lead us to the path to reduce debt over ten years. >> because it is so much money and because it would be so relatively painless for people who have income above $250,000 to see that change go back, because bill crystal is saying this now, because the president is clear that's what he's running on, it feels that's clear that's within the realm of the possible. but what else didn't previously peel like it was in the realm of possib

and the ongoing relationshipwithboehnerandmcconnell because he's going to have to be a different kind of leader with them. he talked about it in the press conference a bit the other day. he needs to reach out to them the way he's reached out to people on staten island and dealt with the two governors, christie and cuomo, who are two pretty demanding guys as well. and based on their public and private comments have been very happy with the president's leadership and his government. >> i just wonder if it's fair to make a parallel when you look at the president's response to sandy which has had and continues to have just devastating effects on the economy for businesses and the reaction to the bp oil spill which seemed slow in coming because that was devastating as well to a different part of the country. >> he certainly was. he was very slow to respond to people in the gulf coast. >> in terms of appearances. >> i think things have changed, though, over the past couple years. and i suspect that, you know, even the president's closest allies will say that it was a very hard adjustment go

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